UK charity Penny Appeal working to provide aid for victims of Turkiye earthquakes

UK charity Penny Appeal working to provide aid for victims of Turkiye earthquakes
People walk past a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 08 February 2023

UK charity Penny Appeal working to provide aid for victims of Turkiye earthquakes

UK charity Penny Appeal working to provide aid for victims of Turkiye earthquakes
  • The initial magnitude 7.8 quake and a series of strong aftershocks cut a swath of destruction across hundreds of miles of southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria

LONDON: British charity Penny Appeal said on Tuesday it is liaising with partner organizations that are working in the areas hit by the devastating earthquake in Turkiye on Monday to provide aid for those worst affected by the disaster.

“Penny Appeal will be working with its partners on the ground to support the affected communities and provide much-needed assistance to the victims of this calamity,” the Yorkshire-based charity said.

“This will include those who have lost their homes, who have lost family members and who have no means of obtaining food, water or medicines.”

Charitable organizations in many countries have quickly mobilized to send aid and deploy rescue teams after the earthquakes and aftershocks, which killed more than 7,200 people. The initial magnitude 7.8 quake and a series of strong aftershocks cut a swath of destruction across hundreds of miles of southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria. They toppled thousands of buildings, heaping more misery on a region already suffering as a result of the 12-year civil war in Syria and the resultant refugee crisis.

“The initial 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck near the city of Gaziantep in Turkiye has been reported as the worst earthquake to hit the region in a century,” Penny Appeal said.

“This earthquake that caused hundreds of deaths and widespread damage was followed by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake reported to have caused further deaths and destruction across the Elbistan district of Turkiye’s Kahramanmaras province.

“The third earthquake, of 6.0 magnitude, followed within hours of the first, causing complete havoc and despair for communities across Turkiye and Syria, leaving thousands injured and many more expected deaths.”

The charity added that its partners on the ground “are working closely with the local authorities and other aid agencies to coordinate their relief efforts and ensure that aid reaches those who need it most.”

Ahmad Boston, director of marketing and communications at Penny Appeal, said: “The victims of the earthquake in Turkiye desperately need our help.

“With the support of the public, we can provide essential aid to those affected and help them through this difficult time. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a significant difference.”


Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial

Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial
Updated 12 sec ago

Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial

Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial
OSLO: The Nobel Committee in charge of the Peace Prize on Wednesday condemned the legal actions and what it called “unfounded” charges against members of the prize-winning Russian human rights organization Memorial.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee deplores the arrest of and legal actions taken against Jan Rachinsky and other leading members of Memorial,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee, said in a statement.
“The charges made against them are unfounded and must be dropped,” she said.
The rights group said Tuesday that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, the co-chair of Memorial, for “discrediting” the army.
The announcement came after security officials raided the homes of several Memorial employees including Orlov, 69, and Rachinsky, its 64-year-old co-founder, earlier in the day.
Memorial established itself as a pillar of civil society by preserving the memory of victims of communist repression and campaigning against rights violations in Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
The raids took place after investigators accused Memorial staff of allegedly including World War Two-era Nazi collaborators on their list of victims of political terror, the organization said.
Memorial was disbanded by Russian authorities in late 2021, just months before Putin sent troops to Ukraine.
“(I have) constant pain and shame for the horror that our army is creating in a neighboring sovereign state,” Orlov told AFP last year.
Memorial received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize along with the jailed Belorusian activist Ales Bialiatski and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.
Rachinsky said last year that the prize came as a surprise and would give all Russian rights defenders “new strength and inspiration.”
After the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, Russian authorities expanded a crackdown on dissent, jailing or pushing into exile nearly all prominent Kremlin critics.
Public criticism of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

UAE looks to more engagement with India ahead of G20 summit

UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
Updated 47 min 19 sec ago

UAE looks to more engagement with India ahead of G20 summit

UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
  • Bilateral relations received boost with last year’s free trade pact
  • Now UAE is also focusing on people-to-people relations, says envoy

NEW DELHI: The UAE wants to expand ties with India beyond the economic spectrum, Abu Dhabi’s envoy to New Delhi told Arab News, as the two countries are increasing engagement during the Indian presidency of the Group of 20 largest economies.

Economic ties between the two countries received a major boost when their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into force in May last year. The landmark deal reduced tariffs on about 80 percent of all goods and provided zero-duty access to 90 percent of Indian exports.

“The momentum has been great. We have had many senior officials coming from the UAE and from India visiting the UAE. We have had quite a few ministers visit. We have a minister visiting almost every month. And non-oil bilateral trade is now above $40 billion and the target is $100 billion by 2027,” UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

“We are keen on expanding ties with India in every possible way, so not just in the bilateral spectrum of things, but also exploring trilateral, multilateral venues ... you would see us being very active as well in the G20 presidency by the Indian government.”

While Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern country in the G20, India, which is chairing the group this year, can invite non-G20 members to its processes and meetings.

The UAE is India’s special guest — alongside Oman and Egypt — and will also take part in the group’s summit in September.

The growing representation of Middle Eastern countries will result in a “higher engagement between India and the countries in the region,” the UAE ambassador said.

“Alignment in the G20 is important not only between India and the countries in the Arab world, but also among the G20 countries and among the countries that get invited,” Al-Shaali said.

The Indian government, he added, has “made sure that it has a different kind of representation in the G20 meeting than what we have seen in the past few years, and this further affirms the commitment that India has to the region and, of course, it has the region’s support in its G20 presidency.”

While economic ties between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi are reaching new heights under last year’s trade pact, the UAE is also investing in people-to-people relations.

“We are only just starting,” Al-Shaali said. “We are focusing a lot on people-to-people ties. We have just signed an MoU on establishing cultural councils, the second chapter of the India-UAE business council has been established as well ... we are exploring all venues; we are expanding in the areas both countries are interested in.”


Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid
Updated 22 March 2023

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid
  • "If we don't take them, they will go to another country," Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook
  • Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia on Wednesday said it had received a US offer of $1 billion in helicopters and missiles at a discounted rate in compensation for promising to send MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine.
“We were the first to receive this extremely advantageous offer. If we don’t take them, they will go to another country,” Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook.
“The value of this material is slightly over $1 billion... Slovakia would pay around $340 million over a period of three to four years,” he added.
The offer includes 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters with accessories, pilot and technician training, along with more than 500 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, he said.
He noted that the offer was notably in compensation for the fighter jets that Bratislava had recently promised Ukraine.
“So let’s summarise: for 13 old MiGs and a part of the KUB air defense system, we have an offer” from the United States, he said.
Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine, the second NATO member — following Poland — to pledge the aircraft.
The batch will include 10 operational MiG-29 fighter jets and an additional three to be used as spare parts. The KUB air defense system is also Soviet-era weaponry.
Slovakia plans to replace the jets with American F-16s, and the changeover should take place no later than January 2024.
Nad said Wednesday that the US deal was also intended to make up for the delay in delivering the F-16s.
“Thanks to our responsible defense policy, relations with the US and also our clear support of Ukraine, we were the first to receive this offer,” Nad said.
“It should also be seen in the context of indirect compensation for the delayed F-16 fighters, where we have long demanded some form of compensation.”


Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 
Updated 22 March 2023

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 
  • Epicenter of quake was 40 km south-southeast of Jurm district in Afghanistan 
  • In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by 7.6 magnitude quake in northern Pakistan 

PESHAWAR: At least 10 people were killed in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan as a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck large swathes of the two neighboring countries on Tuesday evening, officials said on Wednesday. 

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority for Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said 10 people had been killed in the province and 62 were injured.  

“The provincial emergency center at PDMA, Rescue 1122 and district administrations are on high alert in case of aftershocks,” PDMA spokesperson Taimur Ali told Arab News. 

Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, said: “The emergency phase was completed earlier tonight and soon the phase of relief and then rehabilitation will be initiated.”

He added that over 100 people who fell unconscious “out of shock and fear” during the tremors were also taken to nearby hospitals.   

The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 km south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. 

The quake struck 188 km deep below the Earth’s surface, causing it to be felt over a wide area. 

In neighboring Afghanistan, Sharafat Zaman Amar, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said the earthquake killed four people and injured 70. 

He said casualties and damages were reported from different provinces. Two people died in the northern Takhar province and one child died in the eastern Laghman province.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. 

In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan. 


UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan
Updated 22 March 2023

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan
  • Britain's government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans
  • Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said: "This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country"

LONDON: A senior judge launched an independent inquiry Wednesday to investigate whether UK military police covered up or did not properly probe allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.
Britain’s government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans who were allegedly killed by British special forces during nighttime raids in 2011 and 2012.
Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his team would “get to the bottom” of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police were adequate.
“It is clearly important that anyone who has broken the law is referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. Equally, those who have done nothing wrong should rightly have the cloud of suspicion lifted from them,” Haddon-Cave said Wednesday. “This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country.”
The inquiry into two separate incidents will also review whether the deaths “formed part of a wider pattern of extra-judicial killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan at the time.”
Thousands of British troops were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a two-decade-long NATO-led campaign in the country following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Many British soldiers engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents in southern Helmand province.
Britain ended all combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, although a small number of troops stayed to train Afghan security forces until 2021, when the international coalition withdrew from the country.
Haddon-Cave said many hearings would have to be held behind closed doors for national security reasons.
Leigh Day, the law firm representing the families, said Ministry of Defense documents showed officers had widespread knowledge about unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan but did not report the information to military police.